Monday, March 29, 2010

I tried to keep a straight face

A lady picks up Amoxil Suspension for her son’s ear infection. She came back complaining that his ear infection was worse even though she had poured exactly 1 teaspoonful 3 times a day into his ear. This was an Alaska Native woman who, as it turned out, couldn't read English very well. This was the same woman who asked us if her husband could take her birth control pills, because they were making her sick to her stomach.

In south Florida we have a lot of people that no speaky/no ready English. The computer translator only gets you so far and many times I don't feel like a patient is getting the proper care or counseling... Charades was not a game meant for health care...

I suppose that's an additional reason I am grateful not to be in retail now. Fortunately, here is Texas the odds are that most or all of your technicians can speak Spanish. But that is no substitute for MY understanding of the patients' comprehension. I would have to learn Spanish if I went back.

I worked at a Walgreens in a little hovel (at the time) called Bonita Springs in S. Florida soon after graduation. The running joke at the time was renaming it 'Burrito' Springs, because of the sudden, and I mean sudden, influx of Mexican nationals, legal or not. I was the only one that spoke any foriegn languages, so I would get calls off shift everyday to translate. Hey, but I made the 'Employee of the Month' wall pretty regularly. ;-)

Here in the south we can get away with making fun of anyone and everything as long as we say "Bless their heart!" at the end of the fun-making bc that shows we care. So, bless her heart that she is has a common sense handicap! Bless it!